Chapter Three
At quarter to seven the next morning, Lori placed the carton of coffee on the waiting table and went to put her bag down at her desk. She noticed what looked like a long dessert box on her desk with her last name written on it. She opened it up and saw a ton of neatly folded tissue paper under another note that said, “Wear this.”
Lori undid the paper and saw a plum-merlot colored blouse with a silky skirt and matching suede heels. At first, she was a little put off. She had tried to dress up a little better today of her own accord, but it seemed the twins had other ideas. She remembered Oliver saying they would take care of it for her, and resigned herself to take the box into the ladies room down the hall. She was pleased to see that it fit her perfectly; sometimes measurements weren’t foolproof. Folding her own clothes, she returned to the office and left a name card for the respective beverages before getting straight to work.
She’d just gotten started when the door opened and both Jones brothers entered.
“Good morning, Mr. Jones,” Lori said kindly, barely looking away from her task. “Mr. Jones.”
“Morning,” Oliver said tiredly.
Owen looked at the covered cups waiting for them and saw there were two per name card. He picked one up and lifted the lid to inhale it. He paused and looked up at her. “What is this?”
“The coffee you ordered,” she answered without looking away from her computer.
“This isn’t Long Black,” he said.
“The other one is,” she replied.
Oliver took up one of his cups and imitated his brother’s actions.
Owen looked back at his own, “Why did you bring two different types of coffee?”
“Four, technically,” she said. “You asked for a Long Black espresso, but I had a feeling you were trying to set me up again, so I ordered what you got yesterday.”
“How do you know what I got yesterday?” Owen asked.
“I had a hunch and confirmed it with the barista.” She stopped typing and turned her chair to face them. Seeing the look on his face, she added, “Oh, she backed up your claim for the Long Black, but after I guessed correctly on what you really wanted she confirmed it and gave me both. So that one in your hand is an Affogato. And Mr. Jones ordered a classic roast blend, but what he really wanted was a Chai Latte.”
The twins exchanged a look.
Owen looked back at her. “Where did you come up with that harebrained idea?”
Lori grinned. “I don’t think you realize how pungent coffee aromas are, even after the fact. Both of you got close enough to me yesterday that I smelled vanilla and chai. There was no hint of extra black coffee or even classic roast, which I happen to drink at home. I’m quite familiar with it.”
Oliver glanced at his brother and fought against an amused snicker. Owen narrowed his eyes at her a little suspiciously. Lori turned back to her work and spoke, “I still brought what you asked for, but this way I wouldn’t have to make two trips.”
“Uh-huh,” Owen said, putting his drink down on the table. “And how, may I ask, did you get into the computer without the password?”
“Mr. Jones never gave me the password,” Lori confirmed. “And so, rather than spend all morning waiting for you like I did yesterday, I changed the password so that I could get right to work.”
Owen walked right up to her desk and stood staring at her. She paid him no mind as her fingers continued to race against the keyboard, filling the spreadsheet with categories she had assigned the papers to the previous day.
“Stand up,” Owen said sternly. Lori paused for a moment before calmly getting to her feet. She looked at him patiently as he moved around the desk to get a better look at her. “Turn.”
Lori did a slow rotation to be inspected.
Owen frowned at what he saw and reached toward her head. She quickly raised her arm and blocked him. “What are you doing?”
“Fixing your hair.”
“I never gave you permission to do that.”
He lowered his arm and looked like he was holding back aggravation. “Then you do it. Take your hair down.”
“Please,” she said. “Say please.”
He glared at her and she did as he asked with a look of ‘I’ll give you this one.’
She gave her head a light shake as her wavy hair fell from its ponytail down past her shoulders. Owen inspected it and still didn’t seem satisfied. He reached for her again and she took a step back, giving him a warning look. Owen set his jaw and asked through clenched teeth,
“May-I-fix-your-hair-please-miss?”
Lori took a step forward and let him fluff up her hair a little bit. She kept her eyes locked on his the entire time and the closeness she suddenly felt towards him sent tingles along her spine. She ignored the intense reaction he had on her and concentrated on watching him. He seemed genuinely determined to fix it. His grip was light though, and he never once tugged. His fingers lingered in her hair for a moment before he paused and reached his hand out to the side. Oliver apparently had approached and taken something from the box that her outfit had come in, because Owen took it and slid it along the left side of her head, pinning her hair back. He looked her over for a moment, the aggression in his face momentarily gone.
“There,” he said. “What do you think, Oliver?” He turned her to face his brother who looked her over.
“That’s much better,” Oliver said.
Lori nearly blushed. It was the first time they’d said anything really nice about her and they seemed to mean it. She looked from Oliver to Owen.
“You two aren’t really into beige, I take it?”
Owen shook his head.
“It works on some people,” Oliver said. “But it didn’t say what it needed to say about you.”
She raised a brow at him. “And what’s that?”
He gave her a playful smile over his cup before taking a generous drink from it. “Thanks for the coffee,” he said, before moving back to the table.
“Sure thing.” Lori looked back at Owen, who was eyeing her new look as though he were uncertain about something. When their eyes met, his lingered for a moment before he turned away from her.
“Keep working on your task, it should keep you busy for most of today.”
“You got it,” she said, letting her own eyes linger on his backside for a moment. Thankfully neither of the men was facing her to notice.
Owen took his coffee cups into his office, Oliver following close behind.